August 31, 2026
Kiyoshi Mio/USA Today Network via Reuters Connect
Sixers guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and his family moved to the Philly last week. His wife, McKenzie Caldwell-Pope, said their new apartment flooded after the building was struck by lightning. Above, Caldwell-Pope is shown last season as a member of the Memphis Grizzlies.
Sixers newcomer Kentavious Caldwell-Pope got an ominous introduction to Philly last week when his wife flew into town to sign a lease and move into the couple's new apartment.
McKenzie Caldwell-Pope, the wife of the two-time NBA champ, went on TikTok over the weekend to describe a freak incident that happened soon after she arrived at the family's penthouse unit on Friday. She said the roof was struck by lightning, causing a torrent of water to flood the apartment.
"I hear the loudest bang. All of a sudden, s--- starts shooting out of the ceiling and water is pouring in, dumping in," McKenzie said in the video. "So everyone just starts screaming, and we're like, 'We have to get out of here.' When I say it was coming, it was like — there was at least two (to) three inches of water in there before we got out."
@mckenziecaldwellpope First day in Philly 🦸🏽♀️ #storytime ♬ original sound - McKenzie Caldwell-Pope
Caldwell-Pope's wife shared footage of the damage. The video showed a steady flow of water cascading down a bannister in the unit and puddles all over the floor. The location of the building was not disclosed, but McKenzie said the unit was on the 14th floor.
When McKenzie and others left the apartment, she said water was also pouring out of the elevators. The movers the family hired were stuck in one of the elevators.
"All of the elevators are broken, so we had to climb down 14 floors to get to safety," McKenzie said. "We get down there (and) no one wants to believe me what happened. I'm like, 'Guys, I heard lightning,' and the front desk is trying to tell me, like, 'No, something just tripped the sprinklers.' Girl, you go up there, it's Niagara Falls. That ain't no sprinkler, girl. Something bad just happened."
McKenzie shared a photo of firefighters in the lobby of the building. Hours later, after electricians came to make repairs, McKenzie said she got confirmation that there was a lightning strike.
"One of the electricians said, 'Yeah, you got struck by lightning, and there's a 1 in 400 million chance of a unit getting struck the way this unit got struck,'" McKenzie said.
In the video from a hotel room, McKenzie did not say whether the family plans to remain at the unit that was damaged. To add insult to injury, McKenzie said her luggage also was mishandled by an airline and sent to Portland, Oregon, instead of Philly.
The odds the electrician shared with Caldwell-Pope's wife may be overstated. Various sources say the chances of lightning striking a building or other structure are more like 1 in 200, with local weather patterns playing a factor in the odds from place to place. But the odds may be much steeper for a lightning strike to occur in the exact way that caused the type of damage inflicted on Caldwell-Pope's home.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, 33, signed with the Sixers in July on a one-year, $3.6 million deal after playing last season with the Memphis Grizzlies. The 13-year NBA vet joined the Sixers to reunite with LeBron James, with whom he won a championship in 2020 with the Los Angeles Lakers. Caldwell-Pope was also a member of the Denver Nuggets team that won a title in 2023.
This isn't an ideal start to KCP's time in Philly, but fortunately no one was hurt. If he and his family are spooked by the city's destructive greeting, there's always the option to get a place in New York and fly to Philly by helicopter, as James is rumored to be considering.
